Midseason Report: MCLA Notebook – April 1

Since the MCLA tournament is May 11-15, this is technically a little past midseason point as teams get deeper into conference games and the tougher parts of their schedule.

Looking Back at the Polls

The only consistency in the polls has been Michigan and Chapman, who are sitting at one and two, respectively, where they’ve been all season. Both are undefeated although they’ve each had some close calls. The Wolverines escaped Oregon in overtime and topped Arizona State 11-10 earlier in the season. Bit by the injury bug, Michigan has been without starting attackman Clark McIntyre, midfielder David Rogers, and Michael Bartomioli, the team's best defensive midfielder. All are expected to be back for the conference tournament and possibly before the team's trip to Colorado to take on CU and CSU.

Colorado State also remains unbeaten with a 10-0 record heading into a tough second half of the regular season schedule that includes Minnesota-Duluth, Michigan, Michigan State and BYU. Ranked 11th in the preseason, CSU has now sat in the No. 3 slot for three weeks after beating Arizona State 14-10 in mid-March.

Loyola Marymount, Texas State, Central Florida and SUNY Buffalo, all unranked in the preseason, now find themselves in the MCLA poll. Loyola Marymount, which sits at No. 15, is 10-3 with wins over Colorado and Texas and UCF has rattled off five straight wins but will face one of their toughest tests in Florida on Friday.

Colorado State Back to Form

While Michigan has been on the receiving end of a lot of hype for the past two seasons (and rightfully so) it’s the Colorado State Rams who have dominated at the men’s club level, playing in the national championship game seven of the last 11 years and bringing four titles back to Fort Collins. The Rams were uncharacteristically ousted in the first round last year, losing a one-goal game to Chapman but appear to be a national title contender once again.

Cooper Kehoe’s 27 goals and 24 assists lead the Rams and face-off man Scott Gelston has been a difference-maker in games, posting a .734 win percentage so far this season. After transferring from Denver to play football and lacrosse for Colorado State, Greyson Konkel has been a pleasant surprise to the CSU coaching staff. Possibly one of the best two-way midfielders in the MCLA, Konkel has put up 20 points in 10 games.

“He has a tenacious attitude and he doesn’t accept losing and that’s been carried through rest of team,” says coach Alex Smith. “It’s hard to imagine there are many guys that can match up with him.”

The Rams’ schedule for the remainder of the regular season is no picnic: Colorado, No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth, No. 1 Michigan, No. 8 Michigan State, No. 5 BYU. In what has become known as the Rocky Mountain Showdown, CSU will face in-state rival Colorado at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday.

The Buffs, who dropped from 10 in the polls last week to not ranked this week, fired head coach Pete Stevenson after starting 2-4 and losing three straight to Utah, Loyola Marymount and Chapman. Colorado dismantled the Rams 11-4 last year at Folsom Field, the first time they’d won a game in the series since 2000, when Smith was still a player at CSU. Assistant Mike Ryder has taken over as Colorado looks to gain some ground in the RMLC standings.

“They’re a talented group of kids,” Smith said of their rival. “We definitely made mention of it because it’s a fact. They lost their coach and it can go one of two ways – they can either implode or they can get a spark and play better and that’s what we’re planning on. Sometimes things like that make you better.”

SELC Play Heats Up

The MCLA's largest conference could also be one of the more interesting ones to watch down the stretch as Florida State, last year's conference tournament champion, battles with Florida and Virginia Tech for SELC supremacy. FSU, Florida and Virginia Tech started the season ranked eighth, fifteenth and fourteenth, respectively, in the polls and all three have moved up. Florida State is seventh, the Gators are 10th and VT is 12th.

Florida and Virginia Tech battled in late March with Florida getting the 14-13 win. Ryan Akin scored five goals and added two assists for Florida in the win and goalie Grant Schwartz made 21 saves. Jon Tuttle had three goals and four assists and David Stanton put up five goals and one assists for the Hokies.

Rivals Florida and Florida state will face off on April 10 prior to FSU's spring football game in what could be one of the better games played this season and the last regular season game for both teams before the SELC tournament starts April 23.

The SELC added two teams to the conference tournament this year; eight teams will play for the SELC crown rather than six as there have been in past years. In a tournament known for late season upsets and three teams who are all capable of winning the automatic qualifier to the tournament in Denver, this is definitely the conference to watch heading into the later stages of the season.

Oregon and Minnesota Duluth Making Strides

The Ducks and the Bulldogs have quietly played their way to impressive records this season, both sitting at 6-2 with Oregon ninth in the polls and Duluth coming in at No. 6.

Oregon has relied on solid defensive play through this point in the season, holding every opponent they've played to single digits in scoring, including offensive juggernaut Michigan, who beat the Ducks 5-4 in overtime on a freezing night in Dallas. On the offensive end, three-time All-American attackman Justin Blackmore leads the team with 14 goals and six assists. The Ducks have lost two straight heading into Thursday's matchup with Chapman but with Simon Fraser dropping five game and slipping out of the rankings, the PNCLL appears to be Oregon's to lose.

Minnesota Duluth got behind early against Michigan and couldn't recover after trailing 9-2 at halftime and eventually losing 14-7, their worst loss of the season. Offense has been the strength for the Bulldogs. Midfielder Daniel Pitzl has a strong outside shot and attackman Kevin Gaydos is the team's best finisher but as a team, Duluth has struggled with midfield defense, getting caught by teams who can move the ball fast through transition.

Player of the Year Watch Revisited

A few players who were on our radar for potential player of the year honors early in the season have lived up to the expectations and there are a few new names as well.

Trevor Yealy, attack, Michigan: You could say Yealy single-handedly beat Minnesota-Duluth for Michigan last week, scoring nine goals in a 14-7 victory over the No. 6 team in the nation. Having not missed a beat all season, Yealy is leading the Wolverines with 32 goals, which is 20 more goals than their next leading scorer, freshman Thomas Paras.

Cooper Kehoe, attack, Colorado State: One of the top attackmen in the MCLA, Kehoe is an athletic, complete attackman who's brought a lot of extras to his game this season. His hard work on his feeding has paid off as he's leading the Rams with 21 assists.

Ryan Westfall, midfield, Arizona State: The do-it-all midfielder has helped ASU shake off two straight losses to Michigan and Colorado State earlier in the season, scoring three goals in a 10-9 win over Minnesota-Duluth and putting up four in a 14-7 rout of UCSB. ASU has won four straight and is sitting at No. 4 in the polls with Oregon next on the docket this weekend.

Eric Nelson, attack, Arizona State: He doesn't get hyped up as much as the Westfalls but Nelson leads the Sun Devils with 24 goals and 16 assists and is the kind of player who makes everyone around him better.

John Goodrich, goalie, Florida State: Goodrich has posted a 5.7 goals against average and a .672 save percentage so far this season. He made 20 saves in a key win over Virginia Tech and will be a key player for the Seminoles heading into the SELC tournament.